This season! After everything the players and manager had to go through they have come together as a team, a strong team if everyone stays together. Rvp is a good captain, our mentality to never give up made us strong. Next season will be interesting with this squad together

[account-removed]4 years ago

I just love the connection that I have found with the players and fans this season. After such a horrible start, we have shown that WE ARE THE arsenal. The current players that we have don't seem like the type that will move on this summer, especially RVP. I think that if we keep the squad together unlike last summer, we will be really geared up for next season

I think this team on a whole has increased in value this season, which Wenger single handedly masterminded. Last season had a lot of quality but most of our key players were out due to injury for long periods, so we didn't show that much of the quality that our core squad possessed and it hurt us at the start of this season since we had to qualify for a place in the champions league and we ended up losing the 1st set of games in the EPL badly. Even though there have been injuries as well this season, the new players added a lot of the steel and grit that we lost when Viera left. With VP as the new captain, nasri & co. Leaving and the revival of the squad - that Ghanaboy described so perfectly - which surprised almost everybody (Arsenal fans as well as general football fans), I think the value increased in most aspects of the squad both on and off the field and now everybody is happy with the future looking good.

It can get much better too if the chemistry continues to grow in consistency and VP is the only person in the squad that is capable of leading that cause. He is the main reason why there has been such a significant increase in value which makes this current squad more valuable than last year's squad imo.... But the quality was always there since the gunners are coached by the realest boss

[account-removed]4 years ago

In terms of skill and ability, last years side was of a much higher calibre but this season we seem to have guts and determinaiton. Our mentality is better and we have a more motivated skipper. Positives and negatives on both sides. I would still rather have last seasons team probably

I'll just answer to what you said about Fabregas' type of players doing everything, I don't think it would happen for example if Gotze was to come, for the following reasons:

- We'll have Wilshere back next season, and he'll certainly take a good proportion of the playmaking responsability.

- Song has stepped up his game, making himself one of the most influential player in our game.

- Arteta is as you said a seasoned EPL player and can't be replaced easily.

- A new-comer won't have as much capacity to take over the leadership in the game as Cesc had, being at the club for several years.

So I'm not worried about that.

However, even though I agree with you that the media write a LOT of BS about AFC, I do think that our team's quality has been slowly but surely decreasing since 2004-05.... With the signings in the last summer and some of the players stepping up (Gibbs, Kos, Song, Ox), plus Poldi I'm confident we can be a huge force in the League again next season. A CAM would probably be necessary though (Holtby, Goetze, Makhtyrian or whatever his name is lol)

For me this Arsenal team is better than the Arsenal team last year. These are the reasons why I say this: -More experienced -Better squad depth -Better captain -People stepping up

When the transfer window closed in the summer every dubbed all the signings bought in the last two days as 'panic' signings and even mocked Arsene for buying Gervinho & Chamberlain. But for me one way or another they have all showed there worth. Arteta and Chamberlain are probably the only ones that have fully justified there transfers but for me one way or another they have all looked worth not only their fees but the reason they were bought. These players (with the exception of Chamberlain and to lessor extent Gervinho) have all bought in valuable experience this season which Arsenal craved after the horror of the Carling Cup Final. Arteta is a seasoned Premier League player and is extremely underrated. Mertesacker and Santos have both got tournament experience at international level and have competed in the Champions League consistently. Benayoun has also been a consistent performer at the top level. The experience these players have given should not be overlooked because Arsenal have recovered the most points from losing positions (in the premier league) this season which can only be achieved through experience of coming back and not being down from going behind. It also looks like some of the reserve players have learnt valuable lessons from these players (such as Ozyakup).

The reason I say that the squad has better squad depth is because I think to myself of last season and remember how Wilshere played over 40 games at only 18 (to be 19) years old. That shows that he could hardly ever be rested due to the squad being so thin thus forcing a young player playing games as if he was a seasoned veteran. This season we have not had Wilshere and we have still been able to achieve things (finishing top of our Champions League group, coming back against Spurs, beating Chelsea at the Bridge etc.) Also last year we had Koscielny, Djourou, Vermaelen and Squids as our senior CBs (Vermaelen was out for practically the whole season so it was the only remaining three) Squids played too many games for us as we didn't have back up for Djourou and Koscielny which made us all cringe whenever we saw him. Djourou was also our best CB which says it all (I'm not one of those Djourou haters but he should not be our no. 1 CB) This season we have these four (with Vermaelen fit and Koscielny improving greatly) this means we can rotate and never have to see Squids again. Also we play with natural wingers now with Gervinho, Walcott and Chamberlain. And we have seen Rosicky look like the player he was before his injury. Yes we have no back up to Van Persie but that's only because Chamakh has lost confidence and form and it seems Arsene has no faith in Park (this should be sorted with the signing of Podolski but that is only next season).

Speaking of Robin Van Persie, we have finally seen him play a full season and all I can say is wow. Any Arsenal fan could talk about him all day long but I want to talk about his leadership ability. Since the season Viera left us we have not really had a captain and we have not really had a leader (Henry was a exceptional player but he was not really a captain type) that all changed this season. Van Persie looks every bit a captain with the way he excepts responsibility not only for goal scoring ability but with responsibility of picking the team up and celebrating victory. Maybe he has been helped by his other experienced colleagues but even youngsters are saying he is really great to them. Afobe said he helped him to recover mentally form his long term injury and Ozyakup said he looks after him outside of football. This shows that he has been helping our young stars to adjust to the difficulty of top level football. When Fabregas was captain it was like the captaincy was a burden to him and for me he really didn't do anything to make me thing 'yeah he's a good captain'.

Lastly, The team as a whole has really stepped up to the plate. Van Persie is a obvious advocate for this but I look at Alex Song and I can't believe he is still the same player I first saw. He shown to us that he has fantastic technical ability (just look at the assists for Van Persie against the Merseyside teams), yes he sometimes makes rash challenges and yes he is sometimes clumsy but this season he has shown he has all midfield attributes (plus I really think his defensive work is really underated). For me as well Ramsey (who I think is going to be world class) has stepped up. I know some will have their eyebrows raised but just looking at Ramseys goals this season they have all been important (winner vs Marsiellle away, equaliser vs Spurs away, equaliser vs. Sunderland away) they were all tuff tuff tuff games and he provided a break though. Not just his goals but some performance as well (against Chelsea at the Bridge, Stoke at home, Aston VIlla in the FA Cup) have really made me think this boy has class. All that has happened is that he has been over played and was due a rest so maybe his injury had come at the right time. Also to note Rosicky has come back (as I said before). The question is would these players be getting any praise if Cesc was here? I remember somone wrote on the Arsenal forum (think it was Cloudst) that players like Gotze, Hazard etc. Are all great but they come with big prices and even bigger wages. Plus what we had with Cesc is that he was always the focal point and no one else took responsibility. If we signed players of Gotze and Hazards class, would we go back to the Fabregas days of one player doing everything for us?

To conclude, if you have taking time to read this I appreciate it (and thanks). The media do say we are rubbish and that this squad is the worst in Arsene's rein and some even say we've gone backwards well I say we've gone far from it. This season I have learnt that most media opinions of Arsenal are shockingly wrong most of the time, media make our squad sound mid-table and in August they didn't even expect us to qualify for the Europa League. But look at us now in 4th place only 4 points behind the so called 'best team in the north london'. I indeed believe that we have (as our motto says) gone 'Forward' this season

Vertonghen would be better. If kos gets injured god forbid, verm and vertonghen will have a natural connection. If verms is injured again god forbid, kocielny and mertasacker can hold back together, they work well together